


Tradition

by Writinginstardust



Category: The Aurora Cycle - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Mistletoe, a bit of baking, soft, the squad's schemes not going according to plan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 14:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writinginstardust/pseuds/Writinginstardust
Summary: The squad are tired of you and Tyler's pining and awkwardness. With a little help from Christmas tradition, they finally put an end to it.
Relationships: Tyler Jones (Aurora Cycle)/Original Female Character(s), Tyler Jones (Aurora Cycle)/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Tradition

“Okay,” Scarlett started as she flopped down on the couch next to Finian and Zila. “Tell me I’m not the only one who is sick to death of those two pining idiots.”

“Trust me, it’s not just you,” Cat replied with a sigh as she shifted in her armchair to face the others. Zila and Fin both murmured agreements.

Usually the cutesy awkwardness between Tyler and (Y/N) and their pining was bearable but for the past week it had been absolute hell. For one reason or another, no one had family plans for the holidays and thanks to a brilliant suggestion from Scarlett - that she was now starting to regret - everyone was spending Christmas at the apartment she, Tyler, and Cat shared. And since most of them lived all over the place, they were staying here. With the exception of Auri who lived close by and was giving Kal a home for the month. It had seemed like a great idea until it became apparent that Tyler and (Y/N)’s level of pining would go through the roof if they spent constant time together. It had been a week out of a 3 week stay and everyone had finally had enough.

“We need to do something,” Scarlett decided.

“Finally.” The relieved sigh came from Fin. “I’ve been sick of them since day one.”

“Didn’t (Y/N) arrive after most of us were already asleep?” 

“Yes. I got up to use the toilet though and unfortunately had to bear witness to the sickening heart eyes Tyler was giving her before they went to sleep.”

“Yikes,” Cat agreed, having seen something similar herself on several occasions. They were somehow even worse when tired. “What finally did it for you?” She asked Scarlett.

“They just ran into each other while (Y/N) was coming out of the bathroom and he was going in.” Everyone gave her a quizzical look. That didn’t seem particularly dramatic. “She was only in a towel.”

“_Oh_.” They got it now. “I am so sorry.” Fin patted her on the shoulder in a feeble attempt at comfort.

“So what do you want to do about it?” Cat asked.

“Okay,” Scarlett sat forward with a new purpose in her movements. She’d thought about this. “So the way I see it, they get together, the awkwardness stops. Right?” Three nods. “They’re only awkward because it’s awkward to have a crush on your best friend and they somehow have no idea the feeling is mutual. We just have to make it obvious to them. And what’s the best way of telling if someone likes you?” 

“Asking them,” Zila helpfully supplied.

“Well yes…”

“Almost dying and seeing what kind of reaction you get?” Cat tried, only half joking.

“What? No!”

“Get them drunk and flirt until they either kiss or punch you?” Was Fin’s suggestion

“Is that seriously your go-to, Fin?” He shrugged, grinning.

“It has about a 50% success rate.”

“That seems unlikely,” Zila frowned at him. “I’ve seen you get punched far more than I’ve seen someone kiss you.”

“Ouch.”

“Okay we’re getting really off-topic here. Fin was closest anyway. I was talking about kissing someone. You can tell a lot from a kiss. If someone isn’t into it, it’s not hard to tell.”

“So the plan is to get them to kiss?” Cat asked. “And how exactly are we meant to do that?”

“Catherine,” Scarlett received a murderous glare for that, “my dear, have you forgotten what time of year it is?”

“…It’s Christmas…_oh_. Mistletoe.”

“Bingo!”

“Okay. How do we do this?”

* * *

It had been a weird day to say the least. I’d been called to help with various innocuous tasks all over the apartment all day and now received a text from Tyler saying he’d been locked out and asking if I’d let him in. How? The apartment door was never locked if people were in. 

I finished putting the cookies Scarlett and I had been making in the oven and wiped my hands. The rest of me was still a mess, flour and cookie dough on my face, up my arms, in my hair and on my clothes despite my best efforts to avoid such a fate for them with an apron and hair tie that apparently refused to do its job. Hopefully I wouldn’t cover the carpet in flour as I wandered through the living room.

“How…?” I asked as I opened the door to Tyler’s exasperated face. 

“I have no idea.” He paused, looking me over. “Did you blow up a cake factory while I was gone?” I blushed and resisted the urge to nervously brush some of the flour from myself. _Don’t ruin the carpet_, I reminded myself.

“Uh, Scarlett dropped the flour and Fin…”

“Say no more.” Tyler said with a slightly shy grin. I wasn’t really sure why we were still standing in the doorway but neither of us made any move to go inside. It was a little awkward. Like most of my interactions with Tyler had been for months now. I looked around at anything that wasn’t his gorgeous face and my eyes landed on something green and plantlike hanging above the door frame. I frowned up at it.

“Is that mistletoe?” Tyler followed my gaze and I felt him still in front of me, balancing out the nervous shifting I’d begun.

“Uh, yeah…I think it is…” He trailed off and his eyes slid back down to me. God, as if things weren’t awkward enough between us as it was. We just had to get caught under mistletoe like we were in some cheesy romcom. That’s not to say part of me wasn’t jumping for joy at this situation. It would be the perfect excuse to kiss him, to finally get to find out if his lips were as soft as they were in my dreams. But even through that thought, I knew it could be a terrible idea and just make things even more uncomfortable between us. There was no one around though so we had an out.

“We, uh, we don’t have to…” 

“I mean, it is tradition. But if you don’t want to…” Before I could even think about what to say to that, to the fact that he’d at least be okay with it, Scarlett’s voice interrupted.

“Hey guys. …Is that mistletoe?” She was acting surprised but it wasn’t fooling me and she’d noticed it far too quickly to not have known it was there somehow. “Well, looks like you have to kiss now.” She perched on the arm of the sofa and it was obvious she wasn’t going to let us get out of it. I turned back to Tyler, nervously tucking some loose, flour-covered strands of hair behind my ears.

“Uh, so…” This was far more scary than it had any right to be. Tyler smiled softly though and it went some way to putting me at ease.

“Relax.” Easy for him to say. His hand came to rest on my cheek and tilt my head up and I just about melted. I don’t know how I didn’t when his lips touched mine. They were even softer than I’d dreamed.

The kiss was gentle and loving and so so perfect. And it was real. I wanted it to last forever. He stepped a bit closer to me and slid his other hand to my waist where it felt like it belonged. My own hands somehow ended up tracing his jaw and I was probably getting flour all over him but I didn’t care. He didn’t seem to either. 

Dimly I was aware that it was going on much longer than tradition dictated but I wasn’t going to be the one to stop it. I didn’t think Tyler would either because tradition certainly didn’t require the truly amazing things he was doing with his tongue that were making my knees weak.

“Well, I guess my work here is done.” Scarlett’s voice brought me back to reality, though I didn’t really register what she said. I pulled away from Tyler as slowly as was socially acceptable and turned to Scarlett who was no longer alone it seemed. A moment later her words finally computed and they seemed to hit Tyler at the same time. I frowned.

“Wait, what?” Scarlett, Cat, Fin, and Zila exchanged glances before shrugging and motioning for Scarlett to explain.

“We might have put mistletoe up all over the apartment to get you two to kiss.”

“You did what?” Tyler looked absolutely shocked but everything started to make sense.

“So that’s why you kept asking me to come do stuff and I kept running into Tyler on the way?” They all nodded.

“Wait. Did you lock me out of the apartment? For this.” Again they nodded. “Was that really necessary?” Cat and Fin scoffed while Scarlett fixed her brother with a hard look.

“Yes. It absolutely was. You two were unbearable so we did something about it.”

“And you somehow kept ruining our attempts all day so we had to take more drastic measures,” Cat added.

“If it helps,” Scarlett said, softening a little. “It was at least partly done out of love. You’re both so obviously in love so we thought we’d help make it happen.”

“It was 90% because we were all going mad though.” Fin had to go and ruin it and received an elbow in the ribs from Scarlett for his comment.

“Uh, thanks…I guess?” I wasn’t entirely sure what to say and was starting to feel incredibly awkward again, now all too aware that Tyler’s hand was still resting on my waist.

“We should leave them alone now,” Zila said, matter of fact as always, before turning on her heal and walking to the kitchen. The others followed quickly, Fin throwing a parting wink our way and Scarlett giving us a thumbs up. I felt my cheeks heating embarrassingly.

Tyler cleared his throat quietly and I turned back to him, trying not to look as embarrassed and unsure as I felt. I managed to meet his eyes for all of a second before I was distracted by a white smudge on his cheek. I couldn’t help giggling and the little bit of tension that had slipped between us disappeared just like that.

“What is it?” Tyler asked, furrowing his brow but still smiling.

“You’ve got flour on your face.” His smile stretched into a grin and he chuckled a little before his eyes flicked up.

“You know, we’re still under the mistletoe…” I smiled back at him and twined my arms around his shoulders.

“We are…and it is tradition…” I didn’t finish my sentence as Tyler’s mouth covered my own again. Why not after all? It was Christmas and tradition is tradition.


End file.
